59 pages • 1 hour read
Allison LarkinThe People We Keep
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Expression Through Music
The People We Keep frequently includes song titles and lyrics to develop its setting and further its plot. April is an aspiring musician who writes and performs original songs, and her lyrics offer readers insight into April’s state of mind and emotions. Lyrics give April an opportunity to express herself, and she often comes to a deeper understanding of her situation through her songs. They are a channel through which she can express her deepest feelings and explore her past traumas.
April’s lyrics often focus on her desire to be loved and her search for stability. She experiences different romantic relationships during the novel, and each one’s shortcomings stem from her inability to recognize what she truly needs. For instance, after reuniting with Matty in New York City in hopes of rekindling old flames, she writes:
I don’t want you
To fall back into me
And I don’t want to want you,
Cause it’s so easy
I want your love
I want you to want me
Make a choice in my direction,
But don’t fall into me (204).
After meeting Matty, April momentarily regrets leaving him but ultimately realizes he would have left her if she hadn’t left him. Her lyrics reflect her simultaneous need for love and independence. She sings of how easy it would be to slip back into a relationship with him, and yet she worries about his potential influence over her. She wants to be independent and live her own life, so she stresses a distinction between Matty moving “in [her] direction” and “fall[ing] into her” as though possessing her.
Lyrics are also an outlet for April to mourn and confront past traumas. After her father dies, she has a ceremony for him at the lake in Ithaca. She takes Margo’s advice to mourn the people her parents weren’t and thinks of the parent she herself will be while singing:
Where you gonna stay
When flesh turns into bone
Where you gonna stay
Now that you’re not alone
When the sun shines past the treetops
The light’s no longer dim
Where you gonna stay, stay, stay…
Stay with him (337).
As April reflects on how mistreated she was by her parents, she sees her son as a chance to heal this trauma. She is going to “stay” now that Max is coming, providing for and supporting him in all the ways her parents didn’t. She is breaking the cycle of neglect, and these lyrics help her to realize it. Like other lyrics in the novel, they represent a turning point and a revelation.
The Nature of Romantic Relationships
April seeks out romantic relationships for a variety of reasons. At times, she is looking for a place to stay while traveling, while other relationships are motivated by a need for love and for healing from past traumas. April has four romantic relationships over the course of the novel, and each is unique in its characteristics and the impact it has on April. Her relationships contribute to her coming-of-age arc, as they show her development as a person and a partner. Ultimately, The People We Keep makes a statement about romance’s ability to heal trauma. Not a single one of April’s romantic partners is present at the end of the book, suggesting that while romance may help to mitigate her pain, it can in no way be the singular answer to her problems.
The first relationship April has is with Matty, her high school sweetheart, whose idea of the future is one in which they have a traditional marriage. With Matty, April sees nothing but a future defined by gender roles that will snuff out her hopes and dreams. Though April does feel affection for Matty, they are a poor fit for one another. Her next relationship is built on her need for stability. In Little River, April had no one she could wholly rely on and no one to share her trauma with. That Adam also carries trauma allows the two to bond, but April’s need for stability causes her to cling to the relationship without analyzing its negative aspects. The relationship feels good, and April prioritizes it over everything else—a sign of immaturity.
While April is disappointed when her fling with Justin ends, her ambivalence toward him and wariness about relationships generally prevent her from being as hurt as she has been in the past; she recognizes that he loved the idea of her more than the reality. Her next relationship, with Robert, is her most serious. It is not based on sex, as with Matty, or a need for stability, as with Adam, or even adventure, as with Justin. It is instead built on respect, trust, and enjoyment of each other’s company. April realizes this when she stays over at Robert’s, thinking, “Sex is one thing—just putting parts together. It’s another thing entirely to exist together. Robert is someone I want to exist with” (285). April can see herself being her own person alongside Robert. She won’t be forced into a future she doesn’t want or have to hide aspects of herself. Tellingly, her relationship with Robert is most similar to the relationships she has with Ethan, Carly, and Margo: It offers mutual support without transaction or self-compromise. While the novel concludes without April and Robert reuniting, their relationship implies that romantic love thrives in an environment in which it can exist unconditionally.
Chosen (Rather Than Found) Family
As the title suggests, The People We Keep is a story not about the family one is born with, but rather the family one finds. It is demonstrated early and often that April’s biological family is anything but supportive or even present. Her family situation is the driving force behind her leaving Little River, and by the end of the novel, April has constructed a family of people whom she not only cares about, but who also unconditionally love her: They are not simply people she has found, but rather people who chose her in return.
Allison Larkin challenges the notion of what a family is by constructing positive familial relationships between April and characters she is not related to. While she finds the majority of these characters on the road, the most important is close to home: Margo. Margo is the first character to truly demonstrate an unconditional commitment to April. She seeks to repair the damage done by April’s mother, staying committed even after the break-up with April’s father. When Margot breaks the news to her, she lets April know that she will always be there for her: “What I want you to remember, girl, is that I’m not breaking up with you. […] You and me, we’re still good. Okay? You remember that” (19). Most of April and Margo’s interactions in the novel occur over the phone, with April calling to check in or report on a rough experience. April is effectively calling home, but instead of calling her father, she calls Margo.
April’s chosen family expands as she meets more people on the road. The two most prominent are Carly and Ethan. Of all the relationships that April forms while traveling, these two are the only ones that are not based on sex or romance. This frees April to experience true friendship with less anxiety about loss. Both Ethan and Carly accept April for who she is and want to be with her. The novel’s conclusion proves that they have all chosen each other; they remain committed to April despite her having apparently abandoned both of them. Understanding that fear drove her actions, they accept her with open arms and give her sibling-like support. Ethan even becomes the legal father of Max.
The novel opens with a lonely April living by herself and contending with others for the attention of her father. This contrasts with the final scene, in which April is surrounded by the people she loves the most, who are now meeting each other as well. April realizes at this moment that she does have a family—as does her newborn, despite his biological father wanting nothing to do with him. She reflects, “Max already has a family—the kind that counts the most. Me and Ethan and Carly and Margo. We have people we get to keep, who won’t ever let us go. And that’s the most important part” (353). Because April has chosen a family that refuses to let her down, Max will have the kind of family that she did not.
